_Botticelli_ (Florentine: 1447-1510). _See 1034._
This portrait was formerly ascribed in the Official Catalogue to
Masaccio. The wish was perhaps father to the thought, for Masaccio is
a very important person in the development of art (being the leader of
the scientific movement in Florentine painting, and also "the first
man," says Ruskin, "who entirely broke through the conventionality of
his time and painted pure landscape"), and is not otherwise represented
in the National Gallery. Mr. Wornum (the late Keeper) ascribed the
portrait to Filippino Lippi; it is now ascribed to Botticelli, who was
also distinguished in portrait-painting, which in his time was becoming
increasingly fashionable. "The waving lines in the falling hair, and
the drawing of the mouth, seem to leave no doubt that Botticelli
alone is the author of this impressive, yet simple and unpretentious,
likeness of an unknown Florentine" (Richter: _Italian Art in the
National Gallery_, p. 24).